This is the class blog site for Digital Photo,Game Design, and Animation classes at Shorecrest High School.
Each day the site will be updated with assignment information, trivia questions, interesting web links, and dicussion questions. Please bookmark this site as your home page.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

A
self-portrait comes from within. Injecting 'those we love' into the
portrait steers one away from the harder task to trying to reveal self
without adornment.

If you eat, sleep, and live for speed then your self-portrait should reflect motion and movement as one of its cornerstones.

If you are a reflective type, then reflections and patterns and their intersections should occupy a primary space.

If
overall you feel more flawed then whole, then you wouldn't want to go
about photographing the most pristine parts of yourself; you would want,
instead, to capture your essence in a manner that describes and defines
you without complaining. I say that because the essence of
self-discovery requires you to be a benign observer of self so as not to
hone in too closely on this or that part.

A
sense of 'wholeness' is difficult to capture at best. Indeed, wholeness
is almost impossible for some people to even understand -- let alone
capture in themselves -- because their persons and their lives are so
fragmented, so disorganized in general.

But that is what self-portraiture is all about, capturing the whole -- the whole of who you are as a person.

Try
to be unforgiving in a benign and neutral way. Study yourself in the
mirror and paint what you see there. Then go inside yourself and paint
what you see there.

You will shoot three different self-portraits over break. You need to pick three photo concepts from the following five categories.

1. A self-portrait where color is emphasized. Color may include wardrobe, location, props, or natural objects. Think of your picture as a one or two color concept picture.

2. A picture that emphasizes lighting and shadows. This will be a grayscale self-portrait.

3. A self-portrait
that showcases your interests and hobbies. In this picture we learn
what you like to do away from school. Think about what interests you and
transfer that into a photo.

4.
A fantasy self-portrait. Dress up and use costumes. In this
self-portrait you can use Photoshop to enhance your picture in any way,
shape, or form. Transfer yourself to Hawaii or become a Viking like you
have always wanted.

5. The Supermodel
self-portrait. Dress up like a GQ or Cosmopolitan magazine model. This
can be a grayscale or color picture.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

1. Please look through your photos and pick you 20 best portrait pictures. Ten from each day. Make sure these 20 showcase a variety or angles and camera compositions. Simply put, make sure these photos are examples of many of the Portrait Hints you used last week.

2. Start editing the 20 photos in Photoshop using the techniques below. You should make your subjects look like supermodels!

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Beginning today, Tuesday December 2nd, h, you will take 10 pictures a day, for 1
week, totaling 70 pictures. This
also means that you will need to shoot 20 images over the weekend. There is no
theme for this assignment. Your
images can be of any subject matter.
You can take the pictures during school (in class) or after school (out
of class). The following week you will edit your images in Photoshop (basic
color corrections, cropping, editing, etc.).

You will turn these images in on a Contact Sheet. Each image will be labeled in Photoshop
with a title that should include the date each photo was taken. I will check to make sure you have turned your images in on
a daily basis.

This assignment is designed to get you thinking about
subjects & concepts you enjoy to photograph. This will help you to begin to brainstorm your ideas for your AP
portfolio.

Due: November 24th, 2014.Naming convention _70photos

Your grade for this assignment will be based on several
factors:

Completion
of each image.

Turned
in on time (formative)

The
quality and creativity of your 70 images

Your
choice of which photos to possibly use for your portfolio (summative).

Monday, November 24, 2014

One
day you will shoot at school using the lights in the studio and the
other day you will
shoot off-campus at a predetermined location.

You will shoot AT LEAST
24 pictures of your subject each day (most of you will shoot between 50
and 75 pictures.

You can, and probably should, take pictures on the
weekend as well.

1. Find
two interesting human subjects. The people you choose should WANT to be
in the picture and they should be willing to cooperate.I highly suggest working with people in this class.2.
Talk to your subject. What type of portraits do you want to create? Use colors or lighting to create a concept for
your portrait. Costumes or uniforms work great. Imaginary ideas are OK.
Choose an interesting setting based on your concept.3. Change angles between shots. Shoot at least 24 pictures of each subject.4. Use props if they will help the audience learn something about the subject. 5.
Vary the lighting. Use filters, flashlights, lamps, or multiple lights
to enhance your picture. Use the different lighting techniques that you
will read about in class (see above).6. Encourage different emotional looks. Pretend you are Austin Powers taking pictures. Tell your subject they are "groovy".7. Having your subjects "pose" in action is just fine.8.
Most importantly for this assignment don't forget your compostion
rules. Use framing, leading lines, rule of thirds, color contrast etc.
to enhance your photo. Fill the frame.

1. Look for subjects that showcase lines, shape,
and form. 2. Look for subjects that you don’t normally see in pictures.3. Look up, look down, and look very close at
subjects. Macro photography can lead to interesting abstract photography.4. Look for subjects that showcase pattern and repetition.5. Look for interesting color combinations.6. Look for reflections.7. Look for pictures that showcase light in a
unique way.8. Play around with focus. Selective focus and
soft focus pictures are OK in abstract photography.9. Practice and experiment with paints, oils,
food, and other objects.10.Throw away the photography rules and have fun!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Please select your twenty best action photos.
These pictures should show faces, be 95% in focus, fill the frame, and showcase interesting angles and composition.
Crop, adjust, and color correct all pictures as needed. Only keep what is essential to the picture.

Edit four pictures into Grayscale.
Edit two pictures using Selective Focus.
Edit two picture using one-item kept in color.
Edit the other 12 pictures in what ever manner you see fit.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Here is a link to some great action photos. Please notice how most of these photos show engaging action in an interesting location. You will shoot similar photos during our Action Photo unit.

You will shoot action photos at two locations over the next ten days. One of these photo shoots must take place at a Shorecrest related event or sport. For example, you could take pictures of the Hip Hop, Football, Soccer, or Flag teams. The other location can be a place of your choice. Skateboarding, horseback riding, and dancing are all acceptable activities.

Monday, October 20, 2014

The panning shutter technique keeps your main subject in focus and blurs everything else in the picture.
Please read this helpful explanation and take notes.
Please watch this video to help reinforce your reading.This video will help explain the process. It takes a great deal of practice in order to master this skill.

One 24 Picture "Grayscale Adjusted Contact Sheet" with a variety of subjects adjusted in a variety of the Photoshop grayscale adjustment methods. Please make sure the adjustment method is named in the jpeg picture before you create the contact sheet.
Again, the Contact Sheet is called "Grayscale Adjusted Contact Sheet.'

When you are finished please look at the blog listing above to begin watching the Manual Camera work videos and then begin the reading. Take detailed notes please. We will have our first detailed note check on Wednesday.

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Visit the following website HERE
to review a short article on Color Harmony as it exists in
Complimentary and Analogous color schemes. Type out these definitions
in your own words on your computer.

Project

Select only four themes from the list below and photograph in
color—THINK IN COLOR

Take 5 solid examples of each of those photos. You will have total of 20 photos
completed for this assignment.

1. Reflections
in chrome
or other reflective surface

2. Reflections
in water

3. Store
window reflections (e.g., an antique or consignment store)

4. Light
through a window

5. Motorcycle
close-up or car engine close-up

6. Architectural
detail

7. Dual
portraits of your friends

8. Lines
and patterns

9. Foreshortened
image

10. Close-up
of texture

11. Silhouette

12. Motion/Panning

13. Perspective

Create
a contact sheet and make sure to include which 4 themes you chose for
this assignment anywhere in the negative space on the contact sheet.
Save it as a JPEG and name it _color.Turn in 1 photo for printing and name it _print2

These are due at the end of class on Monday, October 21st, 2014.

Your grade for this
assignment will be based on several factors:

Completion
of each image turned in on a contact sheet.

Turned in on time (formative)

The quality and creativity of your 20 best images

Your choice of which photos to possibly use for
your portfolio (summative).

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Update: Here is what is due to finish the Landscape Unit
1. 15 Photoshop Adjusted Landscapes from three various locations. Call this "Landscape Adjusted."
2. Your best Landscape as a .jpeg file. Call this "Best Landscape."
Always use the naming convention. Example: 3_Mitchellt_Landscape Adjusted

Today you have the entire period to edit Landscape photos in Photoshop.
First, pick your best 15 landscapes overall and place them in a folder.
Next, open up each one and touch them up in Photoshop to make the pictures look even better.

You can also do any of the following adjustments we talked about in class:
Get rid of power lines, garbage cans, and other distracting objects using Clone Stamp (S) and Copy/Paste.
Adjust the horizon line using Free Transform (Command-T).
Crop your picture as needed.
Change the overall color using color balance.
Adjust the warmth or coolness of your photo using Image>Adjustments>Photo Filter.

Please File>Save As each photo when you are done editing. Place these pictures in a new folder.
You will turn these photos in on Friday.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Part 1:
Just as a composer uses all the instruments in a symphony to create a
stirring piece of music, you should compose each picture so that its
parts work together to create a work of beauty. Each item in a picture
has an effect on the whole, so don’t just point and shoot. Take a little
time to compose each picture into the masterpiece that it has the
potential to be. Remember that you are trying to develop mastery in
concept composition as well as in technique.
Visit the following sites and make notes in your Digital Journal (named "_dj1")about each topic. Include an image that you find online to illustrate what you are talking about. Click the links below:

Friday, September 12, 2014

Landscape Homework over the next week:Pick at least two scenic location where you can take pictures.Pick a place with water, mountains,
trees, or a combination of all of the above. I would recommend Carkeek
Park, Kerry Park, or Richmond Beach.

You will shoot at least 24 pictures at each location. Change angles and move all around the location.
You may shoot horizontal and vertical landscape pictures.

One of these photography sessions must be during sunset or sunrise.
Please do not center the horizon line and try to show something in the foreground, mid-ground, and background.
Landscape .
Tuesday is an out of class shooting day for Period 2.

Spend 30-35 minutes to read the following articles and watch the videos
below. Take short notes on each suggestion. A few of the readings/videos
repeat the same points. Also, make sure you look up the vocabulary
words below so that you can understand the material. Please add these
terms to your notes as well.

Monday, September 08, 2014

Put your SD card into the back of the computer or plug in your camera using a USB chord.

1. Import your pictures using Image Capture2. Create a folder on your computer.3. Drag the pictures you want to use in this Contact Sheet into this new folder.4. Open Adobe Bridge CS65. On left hand side find your folder and select it.

6. Select the files down below so that they show up in the Preview
section. You can select the pictures via lasso, shift key, or command
key.

7. On the right hand side select Output. Make sure .pdf is selected. Columns and rows will vary.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

Digital Photo: Composition Reading and Homework

This is not a writing intensive course, but there is some reading the first couple weeks of class.
Please
take notes on the bold faced words as you read from the links below.
You will be shooting the various composition elements this weekend and
next week. We will also have a quiz on this material as well.
Bring your cameras to class every day.

This week and next week during class you will shoot 24-36 pictures with at least six different subjects.
Please shoot three Rule of Thirds shots, three texture shots, three color contrast shots, three leading lines shots and three frame within a frame (using other objects to frame your subject) shots.

Homework: Do the same assignment above except use subjects and objects away from school.
Due Wednesday September 10 for Period 3 and Thursday September 11 for Period 2:

15 INTERESTING shots using all four
techniques described above. Some people will take 40-80 pictures for 15
good ones.

Thursday in Photo 1:
Use the entire period to shoot Forced Perspective shots around the campus. Have fun. Be creative. Work in groups of two or three if necessary.
Turn in a ten picture contact sheet at the end of the period.

For
this next assignment I want you to throw out all of the "rules" we've
discussed in class this semester. This is your chance to be as creative
as possible.I
would recommend looking for patterns, colors, and shapes when deciding
on pictures to take. Also try to take pictures of things you don't normally see in pictures.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Illustrator is the next and final program we will work with the year. Illustrator is used mainly to create graphics and designs, but is has many uses.
Please work through the tutorials below starting with the first one.